What’s The Difference Between Dry, Wet, And Raw Cat Food For Your Feline Friends?
You can mix up these three types of cat food so your pets won’t get bored easily.
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If you have cats, you’ll know the struggles of getting your feline to eat.
On good occasions, they eat whatever you give them. On bad occasions, they sniff enthusiastically, only to snub it and walk away. “How dare you give me this peasant food,” if only they could talk.
Your feline’s appetite can sometimes be picky and that’s for a reason. Apart from them just not liking the food, they might reject it because they feel sick after eating them. So do watch out for your cat’s behaviour, if they’re acting unusually, you can get them checked by your local veterinarian.
But if the veterinarian rules out any health conditions like diseases or depression, it might just be that your cat’s taste palate is just too atas.
Here are some types of cat food for you to try and give to your cats. Mix it up a little, occasionally.
1. Dry Food
Dry extruded food is also called kibbles. These types of food come in hard but tiny pellets and sometimes have various colours. Bear in mind, the bright colours are only there as a marketing trick to attract the owners, not the cats. Cats do not seem to mind whatever colour of the food you’re feeding to them.
Dry food has its pros like having longer shelf life and also being cheaper than other types of cat food. However, a few downsides to this are that their water content is low (less than 10%), it’ll pose a risk to older cats with dental issues as it’ll hurt their mouth, and it may lead to obesity if you overfeed them.
Instead, ensure that your cats consume a lot of water when they’re eating kibbles and control the amount of dry food that you give them instead of free-feeding them.
2. Wet Food
Wet food is soft food packed in packets or cans. They can be chunky, flaked, minced, pureed, with gravy, jelly and more. Generally, these types of food are more palatable to cats compared to dry food if your cats are finicky eaters.
They have a higher water content (approximately 70%) because they are usually served with gravy. This is ideal for cats with certain health conditions that can benefit from more water intake.
However, they do not have a long shelf-life if opened and must be refrigerated when you open them. If left unopened, they can actually last long on the shelf. Additionally, they also cost more than the kibbles, so that might affect your decision as well if you’re on a budget.
3. Raw Food
Raw food diet involves feeding your cats uncooked animal products and is a rare type of diet for your feline friends. They consist of muscle meat, organ meat and bones, also called the BARF diet (bones and raw food or biologically-appropriate raw food). They can be homemade by diligent cat parents or available commercially (frozen or freeze-dried).
Some cat parents opt for a raw diet as they believe other types of cat food lacks the nutrients lost in the cooking process and the BARF diet closely mimics what a cat would eat in the wild.
However, these may also pose some risks as raw uncooked food may contain pathogens like Salmonella and E.coli that may lead to life-threatening infections, especially for those cats with health concerns such as immune-mediated diseases. So, consult your vets first before giving your cats a raw diet.
No matter how many types of cat food exist out there, just make sure they are nutritional to your cat. They need a proper diet to do their daily important sleeping ‘job’, running around frantically ‘exercise’, or guarding your home against critters ‘duty’. They have important goals in life too, you know.
All jokes aside, your feline health is very important and to nurture that, a proper and nutritious diet is needed. Make sure your cat gets enough protein, water, fibre, and additional vitamins. After all, you do want your furry friends to be by your side for a long time, right?
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